Mike in CA

Here is a pic of what Mike is talking about... it is actually the DME cover.

I think I would just go to a carpet store and find the closest match.

Will you be taking the bar out between events?

Thanks for posting the pic of your interior Loren. It shows exactly what I'm talking about. I will probably leave the entire assembly in the car between events during the season. The bar between the shock towers that you see in the pic below attaches to the three bolts atop each shock and is left in place, but the rest of the assembly can easily be removed. I'll probably do that in the off-season, or if I want to get in back to clean the window, need luggage space for a trip, etc. The installation in this Turbo is very clean (can't remember who sent me the pic some time back or I'd give them credit). I don't want something cheap looking, but I also wanted to avoid cutting up a piece of $270 carpet, which is why I thought I might be able to make something acceptable out of a piece of factory style carpet, if I could find a source. You know, have my cake and eat it too. In the long run though, if I want it to look right, I might just be better off buying the OEM piece. :rolleyes:

Does anyone know of a source for factory carpet (or a reasonable facsimile)? I’m installing a Brey Krause harness mounting bar that installs between the rear shock towers and would prefer not to cut my original factory carpet. The OEM carpet part (996-551-033-00A10) that covers this area is attached to a piece of molded insulating foam, retails for $270 :o , and is on two month back order from Germany. I could buy a new one of those but am looking for a cheaper option, ie. just a plain piece of matching carpet that I can Velcro in place to cover the area that would otherwise be a bare metal shelf. Any suggestions?

Mike, it weighs about 13 pounds less then the factory OEM battery. I installed one in my cab.

Thanks, Kevin. From your experience so far, any downside to this battery (other than the installation issues) ? Power top won't work, headlights are dim........ :P

Interesting stuff on the Optima battery. How much lighter than stock is the Optima? What's the amp/hour rating? If gel batteries are superior to lead/acid batteries, why aren't the car manufacturers using them? Is there any other downside to the gel batteries, other than that they are hard to fit in our cars (shorter life, less power for auxillary functions other than starting, etc. ?)

I've used ATE Super Racing fluid. It comes in blue and gold colors which make it easier to tell when you've flushed out all the old fluid on alternate changes.

Motive Products

Thanks Gert. I obviously didn't pay close attention to the info on your site or I would have seen the lug bolts listed separately. :(

Thanks, Loren. God only knows where you get this info. :lol: So obviously using the spacers with my Kinesis wheels won't resolve the issue since the extra length I would gain would exactly be made up by the spacers. Any idea whether the longer bolts would would work without the spacers? I wonder how deep the bolt holes are in the hub? I think I'll call Wheel Enhancement tomorrow and ask them about this.

The bolts that come with the Porsche 5mm spacer kit are identified as M6x15. What do the numbers signify? What is the designation for the stock bolts? How much longer than stock are the special bolts? One reason I'm asking is that my Kinesis wheels have thicker centers than the Porsche wheels and the lug bolts have less of a "bite" on the hub....a little more than one bolt diameter when I think about 1.5 diameters is ideal. My autocross wheels are Carrera take offs so it's not an issue for racing, but I'm wondering if I have an adequate safety margin for the street (although I've not seen any indication of a problem). Can the longer bolts be ordered separate from the spacers? If I used the longer bolts and spacers with my Kinesis wheels would I be gaining anything, ie. are the spacer bolts more than 5mm longer than the stock bolts? So many questions, but you probably get where I'm coming from with this. Any thoughts, Loren?

I would feel kinda stupid spending $1100 on sway bars when a Bilstien/GT3 setup is $2000.

You make a very good point with that comment. :) I think you would be getting a lot more bang for your buck with the PSS9/GT3 bars than going with the TRG bars and stock shocks/H&R lowering springs that you already have. The dual spring PSS9 coil overs are supposed to offer a relatively supple initial response to bumps, with the stiffer spring component taking over on the bigger stuff. Also the shocks are adjustable for rebound and compression so you can tune them to meet your ride/performance requirements. Plus you have the ability to adjust your ride height. The whole package is designed to work properly together with the adjustable GT3 bars. My $.02 is that it's well worth the price differential over the TRG bars alone.

Mike did you get an extended warranty yet, I'm still on the fence.

Doug,

I think I'm gonna pass on the warranty. I didn't take it as a good sign when I called the company who sells the warranty through my Porsche dealer for information, and never got a return call. The RMS failure issue was kind of put to bed when my dealer told me Porsche would stand behind that problem beyond the warranty period. Also, the warranty company's fine print states that the contract is void if car is used for competitive "racing". With all the stories about warranty companies going broke, I just don't have a good feeling about it, even though I also hear some folks have had good experiences. It may be stupid, but I think I'm going to chance it ;)

Thanks for the heads up, Karl. I WAS aware that that the GT3 bars required different drop links for the front. Are they required at the rear as well? Gert says he can modify OEM links to work at a cost of 250euro and he also mentioned TRG and S-Car-go as sources for the links. Do you remember where you got them and what you paid?

Thanks Loren. I was curious if the GT3 bars were that much bigger than my ROW ones and you've answered that question. A couple of follow up items:

When Gert lists the adjustable GT3 sway bars on his site, is he referring to the "old" GT3 bars or the new '04 bars? Do you know? Guess I could ask him.

Also, as I understand it, unlike the H&R coilover kit which starts 30mm lower than stock in front, the Bilstein PSS-9 lowers the car from 0-35mm front and from 0-30 mm rear, relative to the European standard suspension which is 10mm lower than our standard setup. So at it's minimum setting the PSS-9 would be only 10mm lower than U.S. stock front and rear, which is actually higher than my ROW M030. That's what I got from the Carnewal site. Am I missing something?

I think the radiator will have to wait until after the suspension kit which will have to wait until I recover from the expense of the Michelin Sport Cups and Carrera take-offs I just got for autocrossing. Had a little success this past weekend and I've got the racing bug pretty bad :eek:

First, great site Loren. Congrats. :clapping: It's been added to my favorites list!

I'm seriously considering a further suspension upgrade to the PSS-9 coilover kit with the adjustable GT3 sway bars. I'm willing to trade some practicality on the street for a lower and firmer ride and more control on the track (autocross). Do you know the difference in diameter between the ROW M030 bars and the adjustable GT3 bars? Are there any good arguments for NOT going to the GT3 bars with the coilovers?

Thanks.